--- title: He dragged some sharp, flat pieces of ice to and fro, and placed the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: He dragged some sharp, flat pieces of ice to and fro, and placed them together in all kinds of positions, as if he wished to make something out of them; just as we try to form various figures with little tablets of wood which we call "a Chinese puzzle." Who acts: Kay, we. A sentence of «Fairy Tales --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/176/11/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [Of the Palace of the Snow Queen and Wh…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/176/) / 11 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Of the Palace of the Snow Queen and What Happened There At Last, sentence 11 He dragged some sharp, flat pieces of ice to and fro, and placed them together in all kinds of positions, as if he wished to make something out of them; just as we try to form various figures with little tablets of wood which we call "a Chinese puzzle." **Who acts:** Kay, we · **What happens:** drag, fro, place, wish, make, try · **To what, where:** sharp flat pieces, shiverings, kinds, something, various figures, little tablets · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Of the Palace of the Snow Queen and What Happened There At Last. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Kay, we), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg27200:176:11 # text = He dragged some sharp, flat pieces of ice to and fro, and placed them together in all kinds of positions, as if he wished to make something out of them; just as we try to form various figures with little tablets of wood which we call "a Chinese puzzle." 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 dragged drag VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 7 det _ _ 4 sharp sharp ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 6 flat flat ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 pieces piece NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obj _ _ 8 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 ice ice NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nmod _ _ 10 to to ADP IN _ 2 obl _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 fro fro VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 15 placed place VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 16 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obj _ _ 17 together together ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 18 in in ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 20 det _ _ 20 kinds kind NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obl _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 positions position NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 24 as as SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 25 if if SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 26 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 wished wish VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 conj _ _ 28 to to PART TO _ 29 mark _ _ 29 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 xcomp _ _ 30 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 29 obj _ _ 31 out out ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 ; ; PUNCT : _ 38 punct _ _ 35 just just ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 36 as as SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 37 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 38 try try VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 form form VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 xcomp _ _ 41 various various ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 figures figure NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 obj _ _ 43 with with ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 45 tablets tablet NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 obl _ _ 46 of of ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 47 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nmod _ _ 48 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 50 obj _ _ 49 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 50 nsubj _ _ 50 call call VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 45 acl:relcl _ _ 51 " " PUNCT `` _ 54 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 52 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 53 Chinese Chinese ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 54 amod _ _ 54 puzzle puzzle NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 55 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 56 " " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **drag** | past | Kay | some sharp flat pieces of ice | | | | | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piece=Theme | | 2 | **fro** | infinitive | Kay *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **place** | past | Kay *not said here* | shiverings *= shivering* | | all kinds of positions | | together *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme in kind=Destination | | 4 | **wish** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Kay | | | | | | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 5 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Kay *not said here* | something | | | | out shiverings *= shivering* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset something=Product | | 6 | **try** | present | we | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 7 | **form** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | various figures | | | | with little tablets of wood | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location figure=Theme | | 8 | **call** | present | we | little tablets of wood | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent which=Recipient | One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree. **Text:** «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 27200 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/176/10/) - next →: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/176/12/) - ↑ back to [Of the Palace of the Snow Queen and What Happened There At Last](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/176/)